The Mummy
by Lord Zeppelin
Summary: When the ancient evil, Lord Dominator, is released from her resting place, she seeks to bring her lover back to life. But why does she hold such interest in a young librarian? It's up to a young gunslinger named Wendy Corduroy and her friends to send this monster back to the grave.
1. Prologue

**Welcome one and all to my new fic based on the 1999 classic "The Mummy" starring Brendon Frasier. This story will include many different characters from many different cartoons. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. With that being said, on with the story!**

* * *

 _"Long ago, in the ancient city of Thebes, The City of The Living, there lived a powerful pharaoh. A mighty queen that led her people through both good times and bad. She was both a benevolent ruler and a mighty warlord. And her name... was Queen Rose Quartz. She led armies across Egypt to conquer those who sought to overthrow her._

 _To help lead these mighty armies were her loyal generals. And among her strongest and most powerful of generals was the mighty Dominator. Dominator was a mighty warrior who could never be defeated in battle. A bloodthirsty monster who's thirst could never be quenched. But what the queen and the other generals did not know was that Dominator... was actually a woman._

 _Beneath the thick armor that protected her against any and all blows in battle lay the body of a beautiful young woman with hair of white and skin of bronze. However, not all have been blind to this fact. One man could see through her disguise and see the vision of beauty that lye beneath. This man's name was Toffee, royal advisor to the queen and the pharaoh's high priest. Keeper of the dead."_

Toffee entered the private bathhouse of Dominator as she took a cool, refreshing bath; her body sweaty from wearing her cumbersome armor all day long. She quietly hummed a tune to herself as she washed herself clean, not knowing that Toffee stood right behind her. Just then, Toffee let out an intentionally loud cough, surprising the naked general as she quickly covered herself. Usually, she'd be fearless. But right now, she was scared out of her wits at being discovered as a woman.

However, all Toffee did was stand there. Not a word, not a sound, just stood there with a face of indifference. Rather than say a word, he simply walked up to the wet, naked general, took hold of her and delivered a passionate kiss to her lips. At first, she wanted to break from this kiss. However, she simply leaned into it, wanting more of it.

 _"It seemed that the priest had fallen in love with the general. He had fallen for her, not only for her beauty, but for her bloodthirsty nature as well. After their night of passion together, they began telling one another about themselves before coming to the realization that there was something they desired more than each other: Power. After several nights of planning and passion, they set their plot into motion."_

* * *

"Ah, your majesty. Please, come and sit down. May I pour you a drink?" Toffee said as Queen Rose Quartz stepped into the room.

"That would be most kind, High Priest," The Queen said kindly as she took a seat as Toffee poured them both a cup of wine. They each took a cup and clinked them together before Queen Rose took a sip from her cup while Toffee simply held onto his.

"You may be curious as to why I have summoned you here, my queen," Toffee guessed.

"A little bit, yes."

"Well I have some news to tell you about your top general, Dominator."

"Oh?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow, taking another sip of wine.

"It seems that your most trusted general has not been entirely honest with all of us. I have discovered that Dominator is, in fact, a woman."

"Really?! Are you sure?" Rose questioned.

"Very positive, your majesty. That's not all though, for you see... we are very much in love," Toffee revealed, "But, you see, that's not all. We have much in common. For instance, we both lust for power."

"What are you talking about, High Priest?"

"I'm saying that myself and Dominator plan to overthrow you, your majesty. We plan on killing you and taking the thrown for ourselves."

"How dare you! This is treason on the highest level! I won't let you get away with this!" Rose yelled.

"Get away with it, your majesty? I think you misunderstand. I killed you 2 minutes ago when you drank your wine," Toffee revealed with a smirk as Rose's face became one of shock as she dropped her cup and fell to her knees, clutching her throat, feeling it dissolve.

She tried crawling toward Toffee in desperation. She clutched at his feet, struggling to breath. Looking up, she found that he was now joined by Dominator, dressed in a fine black dress made of silk, who now stood beside Toffee, looking down at the dying queen.

"Long live the queen," Dominator said before delivering a hard kick to Rose's face, sending the queen flat on her back as she began to foam at the mouth before drawing her terminal breath and falling limp on the floor, dead.

However, before the two traitors could celebrate their treasonous victory, they heard banging coming from the door.

"The Medjai!" Dominator exclaimed in a panic at hearing the pharaoh's bodyguards try to break into the room.

"You must go!" Toffee said firmly.

"I will not leave you!" Dominator said defiantly.

"You must go now!" He said before delivering one last passionate kiss to the woman he loved before going to her ear and whispering into it "The Book Of The Dead holds the key" before shoving her away and out another door and drew his sword just as the Medjai broke through the door to find Toffee standing over the dead pharaoh with his sword pointing towards them.

"Death... Is only the beginning," He said before turning his sword around and stabbing himself through the heart, killing himself instantly. Dominator felt a pang of sadness as she heard her lover kill himself in the next room. However, she knew what she had to do now. It was like Toffee said.

"The Book Of The Dead holds the key," She repeated to herself before leaving the palace as quietly as she could before heading toward the Temple of Anubis.

* * *

 _"Later that night, Dominator, her soldiers, and Toffee's priests broke into his crypt and stole his body before racing deep into the desert, taking Toffee's body to Hamunaptra, resting place of the pharaohs and keeper of their riches. For her love, Dominator dared the gods' wrath by going deep into the city where she took the black Book of The Dead from its holy resting place to perform an ancient resurrection ritual to bring back the man she loved most in the world._ _Toffee's soul had been sent to the dark pit of the Underworld. His vital organs removed and placed in five sacred canopic jars"_

Toffee's body lay flat out on a stone slab next to a black pool as Dominator read aloud from the book as the priests and soldiers chanted in ancient Egyptian. As they all chanted, the black pool began to bubble and boil before what looked to be a black spirit rose from the depths of the pool and entered Toffee's body through his mouth and nose. As soon as the spirit took its place inside of the high priest, his eyes suddenly shot open and began to gasp for air.

 _"Toffee's body had returned from the afterlife."_

Just as the last line of the text was about to be read, however, the Medjai appeared and surrounded the blasphemers and traitor.

 _"But the pharaoh's bodyguards, The Medjai, had followed Dominator and her subordinates and stopped the ritual before it could be completed."_

Grabbing a hold of Dominator, and knocking away the black book, the spirit suddenly left Toffee's body and flew back into the dark pool, creating a large splash.

"Noooooo!" Dominator yelled in sorrow at seeing that her love was now gone forever.

The Medjai then gathered all of the traitors and blasphemers and led them back up into the city where they'd suffer a fate worse than death.

 _"Dominator and her soldiers were condemned to be mummified alive. As for Dominator, she was condemned to endure the Homdai, the worst of all ancient curses. One so horrible and terrifying, that it had never before been bestowed. After having her tongue cut from her mouth, she was wrapped in linen and placed inside a sarcophagus that was then filled with scarab beetles. He was to remain sealed inside, the undead for all eternity. The Medjai would never allow him to be released, for she would rise a walking disease; a plague upon mankind. An unholy flesh eater with the strength of ages, power over the sands, and the glory of invincibility!"_

 **THE MUMMY**


	2. Battle for Hamunaptra

**-Hamunaptra, 1923-**

 _"For three thousand years, men and armies fought over this land. Never knowing of the evil that lay beneath it. And for three thousand years, we, The Medjai, descendants of the pharaoh's sacred bodyguards, kept watch."  
_

It was a bright and hot day in the ancient ruins of the city that was once Hamunaptra. Some would've said it was a nice day for a desert, but those people were currently arming themselves and taking up positions along the city walls, preparing for a fight to the death against a battalion of desert raiders. The people currently preparing themselves was an army from the French Foreign Legion, who had traveled days into the Egyptian desert in order to find this place. Now, it seemed that this ancient city would be their graves.

Along the outer defenses, there was a group of younger members of the army.  
There was a young man with white skin, cyan eyes, and curly ginger hair: Penn Zero.  
A man with white skin, light brown hair, and brown eyes: Milo Murphy.  
A tall man with natural tyrian purple hair and sapphire blue eyes: Randy Cunningham.  
A Japanese woman with dark brown eyes and dark brown hair with violet and yellow highlights at the tips held back by two ponytails: Sashi Kobayashi.  
A tall slender woman, with slightly pale pink skin, ginger, wavy, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes: Melissa Chase.  
A well built Hispanic man with short brown hair, tan skin, and a small brown mole on his cheek: Marco Diaz.  
A young blonde-haired woman with big, baby blue eyes: Star Butterfly.

And finally, there was a tall, ginger-haired woman wearing a white shirt and brown leather bomber jacket with bandoliers over both her shoulders and pistol holsters under her arms. Her name was Wendy Corduroy. Standing next to her was a tall man with long black hair wearing a standard issue FFL uniform. His name was Robbie Valentino.

As they all got into position behind the walls, readying their rifles, they noticed that their commending officer had just thrown down his sword and rode off in the opposite direction. Wendy looked to her friends when Penn shrugged.

"He just got a promotion," He said simply as they all got back to aiming their guns at the oncoming army riding towards them.

"Ready your weapons!" Wendy shouted out in a commanding voice. The entire Legion unit could hear the raiders ululating as they rode towards them.

"Steady!" Wendy commanded, "You guys are with me on this, right?" SHe asked her friends.

"Your strength gives us strength, Captain," Melissa said.

"Outlaws to the end, Ma'am," Marco tacked on with a smirk.

"When we get out of this, I'm buying the first round when we get back to civilization," Penn said with a cheeky grin.

As the raiders got closer and closer to them, Robbie just shook his head "no", dropped his gun, and made a run for it back into the city.

"Wait for me!" He yelled as he ran after the commanding officer.

The others just shook this off and re-aimed their weapons, "Steady!" Wendy yelled out once more.

Everyone in the unit was now getting nervous. They were now licking their lips and likely to even piss their pants at any given second, but they held strong as the raiders got so close that they could now see the whites of their eyes. Time seemed to slow for those last few seconds... Then came the order that they were waiting for.

"FIRE!" Wendy screamed as the entire unit let out a volley of gunfire that would've been mistaken for thunder had it been raining.

Just like that, an entire section of desert raiders fell from their horses, some of them horses included, and into the desert sand. The thunder went on for a few seconds before ceasing for a moment as some of the Legion unit reloaded their weapons. However, this pause was all the raiders needed to aim their weapons and open fire on the unit, killing some of the soldiers perched on the higher walls. There was now the thunder of gunfire coming from both sides as they fired upon each other. For a few seconds, it looked like the soldiers could win this thing.

However, this proved false as a second army of raiders came from the right, flanking the Legion soldiers and beginning to overtake them. Some of the soldiers were beginning to make a retreat as they were starting to be overrun. Wendy and her friends were starting to back up when some of them started to run low on ammo.

"Death before dishonor!" Sashi yelled as she threw down her rifle and drew a katana from a scabbard on her belt. after cutting down a couple of raiders however, Penn grabbed a hold of her.

"You can kill yourself later, Sash! Right now, we run!" Penn said as he and the others made their way back into the city.

Wendy was following close behind, taking out any raiders that were coming towards her, using any weapon she had at her disposal, from using her rifle as a bat, to using her backup revolvers, to using her (backup) backup pistols. As she ran into the city, the others nowhere in sight, she spotted Robbie heading toward an open stone door.

"Run, Robbie, run! Get inside! Get inside!" Wendy yelled as she was being chased by raiders. Once Robbie reached the entry way, he began to push against the door.

"Hey! Don't you close that door! Don't you close that door!" She said, but was to late as she slammed against the now closed stone door. Before she could try to push it back open however, she narrowly dodged a volley of bullets before making another run for it as more raiders followed her into the city.

As she ran, narrowly dodging rifle fire, she leapt over a downed stone column, doing a roll as she landed. However, this resulted in her dropping her gun. Just as she went to reach for it, more gunfire rang out before she could reach it and she made a run in the opposite direction of the guns that were firing at her. The raiders were now on her tail, and just as she turned a corner to try and shake them, three more raiders came from a different corner and now flanked Wendy. Seeing only one other way out, Wendy ran in that direction but soon found herself up against a literal wall.

Just as she turned around, she found herself surrounded by raiders. As their guns clicked and prepared to fire at her, Wendy closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable. But, just as they were about to open fire on the defenseless ginger, their horses began to go absolutely crazy. They started braying and whinnying, some of them dropping their riders or dropping to the ground themselves before making a run for it in the opposite direction of Wendy.

Wendy stood still for a few seconds, her eyes still glued shut before she cracked them open to see that the raiders were gone. Opening them fully, Wendy had a look of confusion on her face, wondering what could've scared them off. She then turned around to find that she was standing in front of what appeared to be a half-buried stone statue of Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death and the Afterlife.

 _'Was this what scared them off?'_ She thought to herself curiously.

She took a step toward it and was about to place a hand on the statue when the sand began to shift beneath her, scaring her and making her jump. It was like there was something under the sand that was following her. Seeing this, she ran for her life as fast as she could. If she had stuck around, she would've seen the sand shift into what looked to be a screaming face.

Wendy, after exhausting her remaining energy, stumbled out of the city ruins, surrounded by the corpses of desert raiders and her fellow soldiers. As she walked, she looked at the faces of the recently deceased and saw that none of them were her friends. She smiled at this.

 _'At least they made it out of here,'_ She thought as she continued walking, out into the desert.

What she didn't know was she was currently being watched. High above her on a cliff side, there stood a group of people on horseback, looking down at the battle-ravaged ruins and spotting Wendy as its lone survivor.

"Steven, should we finish her off?" Asked a pale-skinned woman with peach colored hair.

"I would gladly do it, my pharaoh," Said a young woman with dark skin and long black hair.

"No, Connie, we shall not kill her," Said a man with curly black hair and white skin with a slight tan.

"I sense that a strong spirit lies within this one," A tall woman with dark skin and a square afro said.

"The desert will finish her off," The man said simply with a serious look on his face as the sun began to set on the horizon.


	3. Discovery

**Greetings and bienvenue, my fans and followers! I apologize deeply for the long wait on this chapter, but hopefully this more than makes up for it. With that said, may the next chapter begin!**

* * *

 **-Cairo, Egypt, Three Years Later-**

Some years later, in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, a simple librarian worked diligently in his duties of sorting and placing the many books and volumes of knowledge in the library of the Egyptian Museum of Archaeology. The librarian, going by the name of Mason Pines, was a simple looking young man. He wore a simple brown suit with a white dress shirt underneath with a blue tie around his neck and a pair of half-rim glasses over his eyes. If someone were to describe his face, they would say he was fairly handsome. Not supermodel levels of handsomeness, but definitely worth a second glance if you were to meet him.

Right now, he was working on replacing some books that were left out on some tables that some library goers forgot to put back themselves.

"Sacred Stones, Sculpture and Aesthetics, Socrates, Seth Volumes One, Two, and Three, and T-," He stopped when he noticed the book in his hands, "Tuthmosis? Now what are you doing here? Let's see here. T. T, T, T," He said to himself, looking about the shelves for the "T" section. Turning his head, he found that the "T" section was right behind him on the opposite shelf. At first, he thought to maybe just reach over and place the book in its proper place, but reconsidered when he thought of what could happen if he did.

 _'Wouldn't want to pull a Mabel,'_ He thought to himself as he slid down the ladder he was on and moved it to the opposite bookcase before climbing up and putting the book in its place.

"Ah, there we go," He said to himself, dusting off his hands before sliding down the ladder again and exiting the row of shelves.

"Mason, you in here?" A voice called out. Turning his head, Mason found and older man with grey hair and a five o' clock shadow wearing a black pinstripe suit walk into the library.

"Over here, Great Uncle Ford," Mason called back and Ford looked to see the young man.

"Ah, there you are. I came to tell you that I'll be busy for a couple of hours doing some paperwork in my office. I want you and your sister to watch the museum for me," The older man said.

"No problem, Great Uncle Ford. I'll go and find Mabel and tell her," Mason said as he turned around and walked off.

"I think she's in the mummy exhibit," Ford called after his nephew before leaving toward his office.

* * *

As Mason walked through the halls of the museum, he suddenly heard an audible thud. Following the sound, he came to one of the museum's main exhibit halls. He heard the sound getting more and more loud as he approached one of the sarcophagi. He creeped closer and closer toward the sarcophagus when, suddenly, the mummy burst forth from the stone coffin and let out a screech.

"AAAAaaaaaahhhhhh!" Mason screamed.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Came a feminine laugh from inside the sarcophagus, ticking Mason off.

"God damn it, Mabel!" He yelled as a young woman with long brown hair came up from the sarcophagus, still laughing uncontrollably.

"Y-you sh-should've seen the l-look on your face!" She exclaimed through her laughter.

"Honestly, Mabel, have you no respect for the dead?" Mason scolded as the woman calmed her laughing fit.

"Of course I do! In fact, I love the dead so much, sometimes, I feel like I should join 'em," She said, hugging the long dead corpse with her right arm.

"Well sometimes I feel like you should do it sooner rather than later," Mason said irritably.

"Oh, come on, Dipper. Is that any way to talk to your twin sister?" Mabel asked with a playful smile as she heaved herself out of the mummy's sarcophagus.

"Mabel, I honestly don't have time for your antics. I have enough to deal with already without you scaring me half to death," Mason said, sitting down on the base of a statue of Ra.

"Really? Like what?" Mabel asked.

"Well the Cambridge Scholars rejected my application... again. They said I don't have enough experience in the field," He replied dismally. See the mood her twin was in, Mabel frown before walking up to him and kneeling down to his level.

"Hey, you'll always have me, Dip-Dop," She said with a soft smile, making him smile back before they gave each other a quick hug before Mabel went back over to the sarcophagus.

"Besides, I may have something to lighten your mood," She said, looking around the sarcophagus and moving the dead pharaoh's remains out of the way.

"Look, Mabel, I can't handle another one of your worthless trinkets. If I have to go to Uncle Ford again and show him what you fou-" Mason was saying before he stopped himself when he saw the small object in Mabel's hands. It was some kind of small, black, hexagonal box made of some kind of metal. Mason took the item and began to examine it closely.

"Mabel, where did you get this?" Mason asked slowly as he looked at it.

"Off some merchant. Said he got it from some, uh, archaeologist who found it on a dig in, uh, Thebes," Mabel said, "Mason, all our lives we haven't found anything of worth. Please tell me we've got something here," She almost begged.

As she said this, Mason felt a small indentation on one of the sides of the box and pressed down lightly on it, causing the top of the box to open up into a kind of star shape. Inside the box was what looked to be a folded up piece of paper. Taking the paper out of the box, Mason examined it and his eyes grew a bit wide at the sight of what was on the paper.

"Mabel."

"Yeah?"

"I think you may have found something."

* * *

"You see the cartouche there? That's the official seal of Queen Rose Quartz The First. I'm sure of it," Mason said excitedly as he was showing the piece of paper, which had some form of ancient map on it, to his Great Uncle Ford in his office.

"You could be right," Ford said, examining the map.

"Two questions: Who the heck the heck was Rose Quartz and was she rich?" Mabel asked, standing next to her Great Uncle's desk.

"She was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. It's said she was one of the richest pharaohs in all of ancient Egypt," Mason explained.

"Ooh, Mabel likey," She said, getting excited herself at the idea of being rich.

"I've already dated the map. It's over three-thousand years old by my estimate. And if you look at that hieratic just here... Well, that's Hamunaptra," Mason said, making Mabel's eyes widen a bit and Ford to scoff at the mention of the ancient city.

"Oh please, Mason, don't be ridiculous. We're scholars here, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra's just a myth made up by ancient Arab storytellers to amuse Greek and Roman tourists," Ford said almost condescendingly.

"Yes, I know all the old stories about how the city is supposedly protected by some 'mummy's curse', but all of my research has led me to believe that the city may have once actually existed," Mason tried to reason with his uncle.

"Hold on, back up and time out," Mabel said quickly, "Are we talking about _the_ Hamunaptra?"

"That's right, sis. The City Of The Dead. Where it's said that the earliest of pharaohs hid the wealth of Egypt," Mason said with a smile.

"You mean the humongous underground treasure chamber?" Mabel asked with a bit of excitement, earning a scoff from her great uncle, "Oh come on, Gruncle Ford, everyone knows the story. Of how the entire place would sink into the sand at the pharaoh's command. With the flip of a switch the entire place would sink into the sand dunes, taking the city and all its riches with it." She said as Ford examined the map over the light of a nearby candle.

"Yes, well, as most with half a brain would say, it's all fairy tales and hocus po-oh my goodness!" Ford exclaimed as the map caught fireand dropped it to the floor. Mason and Mabel quickly rushed over and quickly patted out the flame before Mason looked at the now charred piece of papyrus.

"You burnt it! You burnt off the part with the lost city!" Mason exclaimed in worry as he looked to his uncle.

"It's for the best, I'm sure. Many a man has lost their life in pursuit of that cursed city. Most... never return," He said forebodingly.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it and I apologize if this was a bit short (I did this all in one evening). Until next time, keep reading, my friends! ;)**


	4. Negotiations

**Greetings and welcome, my fans and followers! I'm happy to bring you the fourth chapter in this story/adaptation of one of my favorite childhood movies. With that said, may the next chapter begin!**

* * *

"Come, come, step right on in! Welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble place of work. I am your host, Gideon Gleeful, warden of this fine establishment," A pudgy man wearing a blue suit with a white pompadour hairdo said as he led Mason and Mabel into the depressing looking place of incarceration.

"You told me you got this from a merchant, Mabel!" Mason said angrily under his breath.

"Well I was mistaken," Mabel whispered back.

"You lied to me!"

"I lie to everybody, what makes you so special?"

"I'm your brother."

"That just makes you more gullible, Dipper."

"Mabel, you stole it from a drunk woman at the local casbah!" Mason exclaimed.

"Technically, I pick her pocket, so maybe we shouldn't-" She said, trying to turn and run but Mason stopped her and set her back on track.

"Will you stop being ridiculous, Mabel?!" He asked before they got up to a set of bars, "What exactly is this woman in prison for?" He asked Gideon.

"Of that I am uncertain. When I was told you two were coming, I asked her that myself." Gideon said.

"And what did she say?" Mason asked.

"She said 'I was just looking for a good time,'" Gideon replied before a door burst open and a pair of guards forcefully pushed a tall, ginger-haired woman out of the door and into the holding cell where she was forced onto her knees and against the bars. Her hair was messy and her white tank top was covered in dirt, sweat, and dust.

"This is the woman you stole it from?" Mason asked his sister in a whisper.

"Exactly my point, so maybe we should just-"

"Who are you?" The woman asked, looking at Mabel with a scrutinizing glare before she turned her head toward Mason and a small smirk grew on her face, "And who's the hottie?"

"Excuse me?" Mason asked, his face going red from the comment.

"Oh, well, uh, my name's Mabel and this is my brother, Mason," Mabel said, quickly introducing themselves.

The woman was silent for a moment, eying Mason up and down before nodding her head, "Yeah, I'd hit that," She said.

"I beg your pardon?!" Mason exclaimed in complete shock at her comment. Suddenly, a disturbance occurred on the other side of the prison yard, causing Gideon to yell and go deal some authority to the prisoners.

"Quick, ask her about the box!" Mabel whispered quickly as Mason stepped forward and adjusted his glasses and suit nervously.

"Um, hi, hello, we, um, kinda sorta found your puzzle box and we wanted to ask you about it," Mason said nervously, the woman just giving him a deadpan stare.

"... No," She said simply.

"No?" Mason asked.

"No. You came to ask me about Hamunaptra," The woman said simply, surprising the twins.

"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" Mason asked in a near whisper as he got closer to the bars.

"Because that's where I was when me and my friends found it. I was there," She answered.

"Wait, you were actually at Hamunaptra?" Mason asked in awe, causing the woman to have a smile grow on her lips.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was there."

"Do you swear?" Mason asked.

"Every damn day," The woman said with a smirk.

"No, I meant-"

"I know what you meant. City of The Dead, Rose Quartz's place, all that jazz, I was there."

"Could you maybe... Tell me how to get there?" Mason asked.

"You really want to know?" The woman asked.

"Yes," Mason answered.

The woman then motioned for him to get closer to the bars. Thinking that she was going to whisper him the directions, Mason got closer and closer until he was right up to the bars, when suddenly, the woman grabbed him by the collar, pulled him to the bars and kissed him hard on the lips. The kiss only lasted a second before she broke away from it and hissed, "Then get me the hell out of here!" before she was hit in the back by a guard's baton before being dragged back through the door she came from. Backing up with a massive blush on his face, Mason touched his lips as Gideon came back over to them.

"Where are they taking her?" Mason asked promptly.

"To be hung. Apparently, she had a VERY good time," Gideon said simply.

* * *

In the gallows yard, the prisoners and guards were gathered to watch the hanging of the ginger-haired woman, all of the inmates yelling loudly for them to let her go. Up in a private balcony, Mason, Mabel, and Gideon watched the whole thing transpire.

"We will give you one hundred dollars to spare that woman's life," Mason said quickly.

"My friend, I would PAY a hundred dollars to watch this woman hang," Gideon replied.

"Two! Two hundred dollars!" Mason tried bartering.

"Proceed," Gideon called down.

"Three hundred!" Mason exclaimed, not getting through to the warden.

Meanwhile, down at the gallows, the executioner was tying the noose around the woman's neck tight.

"Any last requests, bitch?" He asked her.

"Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go," She replied in an almost deadpan fashion.

This made the executioner pause for a moment before calling up to the warden's box.

"Do we do it?" He called.

"What are you?! Stupid?! Of course we don't let her go!" Gideon yelled back.

"Five hundred dollars!" Mabel said quickly.

"Hold it for a moment!" Gideon called down to the executioner before turning to the female Pines twin, "And what else? I'm a very lonely man, you know," He said, putting his hand on her leg, which she then swatted hard, angering the fat warden, "Do it!" He yelled.

"NO!" Mason yelled out as the executioner pulled the lever, releasing the trapdoor beneath the woman's feet and causing her to fall and the rope to tighten around her neck.

"Ha ha! Her neck did not break!" Gideon yelled in amusement, which got the prisoners riled up at seeing one of their own dying.

"I apologize. Now, we must watch her strangle to death," He said with a chuckle.

Mason had to think of something to possibly give this guy that he'd want that didn't involve his sister having sex with him. He looked down at the woman as she choked to death, the rope crushing her windpipe. As he looked at her, an idea sprang to his mind. A last ditch effort to save her.

"She knows the location of Hamunaptra," He said, quickly getting the warden's wide-eyed attention.

"You lie," Gideon replied with a disbelieving frown.

"I'd never!" Mason said in offense.

"You're telling me this woman knows the way to the City Of The Dead?!" He asked in disbelief.

"I swear she does; and if you let her go free, we'll give you... Five percent." Mason haggled.

"Fifty." Gideon countered.

"Twelve."

"Thirty."

"Twenty-five."

"Twenty."

"Ah! Deal!" Mason said quickly, making Gideon groan in defeat.

"Ahh! Cut her down!" He yelled to the executioner, who drew a sword and sliced the rope holding the woman up, causing her to fall to the ground. When she did, she breathed a life-restoring breath of air before looking up at the warden's box, her eyes meeting with Mason's. Both of them couldn't help but smile at one another.


	5. The Journey Begins

It had been a few days since the events at Cairo Prison. While Mason still had his doubts about putting his trust in a prisoner, the thought of actually finding the City of The Dead was too much to pass up for the young scholar. However, while her brother had visions of being a great explorer, Mabel, on the other hand, could only think about all the gold within the ruins of the ancient city. The biggest hurdle for the twins wasn't negotiating with the warden, but trying to talk their great uncle into letting them go off on their quest. After hours of arguing, Ford finally relented and even paid for the tickets for the boat that would take them up the Nile. However, he had one condition: Soos, his man-servant, would go with them to watch over them in his absence.

Now here they were, standing in front of the boat in the shipyard, with Soos already on the boat, waiting for the prisoner, who's name, as Mason was told by the Warden, was Wendy Corduroy, all the while hoping that this journey wasn't all for nothing.

"Quit worrying, Dipper," Mabel said, trying to calm her twin brother, "Everything's going to turn out great."

"I really hope so, Mabel," He replied.

"I'm quite sure it will for us all," Came an all too familiar Southern drawl behind them. Turning around, the twins were met with the white-haired, pudgy face of Gideon, The Warden.

"Oh no, what are you doing here?" Mabel asked, slightly disgusted at seeing the overweight jailer again.

"I am here to protect my investment, thank you very much," He said matter-of-factly as he picked up a pair of suitcases and headed toward the boat, "Come along now, we've got a boat to catch!" Gideon said excitedly as he hurried along the dock toward the gangplank.

"And just where is our guide, Mr. Gleeful?" Mason inquired

"She said something about going to pick up a few friends" the warden replied, "She said she'll be back soon"

"And you just let her go off… alone? On just her word that she'll come back?" Mabel commented.

Gideon stood in silence for several seconds as he mentally processed what he had just done.

"Aw Dammit!" he exclaimed in rage, kicking his bags as he did.

"You better hope she comes back, warden, or you can kiss your twenty percent cut goodbye!" Mason scolded before muttering,"And I can say goodbye to my reputation while we're at it."

* * *

After Wendy had been cleaned up and convincing the warden to gather up some extra assistance, the former solider had set off to the edge of Cairo to find the back-up she needed. There was no way she'd set foot in the City Of The Dead without people who were as crazy as she was to go back there in the first place. Fortunately, she knew a few good men and women who were the right amount of insane. She entered an old hangar that had become the base to the mercenary group known as The Wild Geese. However, Wendy knew them better as the soldiers she fought alongside during the first time she went to that cursed place. No sooner had she stepped inside the hangar did she hear the sound of gunfire. Seconds later, Penn ran out of the hangar in a state of panic while his teammate/lover, Sashi, shot at him.

"I swear it's not what it looked like, honey!" Penn shouted back to her "the belly dancer was just trying to give me CPR, but her mouth got below my waistline!"

"I'm going to kill you, Zero!" Sashi proclaimed, "And this time I mean it!"

"Somethings never change" Wendy mentioned.

Upon hearing and seeing their old comrade, Penn and Sashi instantly stopped what they were doing and ran up to hug the redhead in unison.

"Wendy!" Penn cheered "It's great to see you! I heard you hung in prison!"

"Nope, got a lucky break. And I might have a business deal for you guys to" Wendy explained "Where's Randy?"

"He's inside the hangar" Sashi replied "just to let you know, he's drunk"

"When is he ever not drunk?" her friend pointed out

With that, Wendy went inside while Penn remembered that he was running for his life and took off once more. Wendy entered the hangar and went inside a small office in the back, where the leader of the Wild Geese was looking over some papers and had an open bottle of whisky sitting on the desk as well. He was tall man dressed in a tan duster and long rimmed-hat and dressed in tan pants and black boots and had an eye-patch over his right-eye. Once Randy saw Wendy, his eye widened in shock.

"As I live and breathe…" he gasped "It's good to see you again, Wendy!"

"Likewise, Randy" she replied, "I see you guys have been doing well"

"Well, after our time in the Legion had ended, we decided to keep our group together for jobs where we actually get paid" Randy explained "you should've joined us"

"Nah, your little suicide squad is way too crazy for me" the redhead denied "But I need you guys for a special mission"

"I only have three questions: where is it? how much are we getting paid? And how many people do we get to kill?" the mercenary inquired.

"Well I hope we won't have to kill anyone, but I've got a feeling that we will" Wendy answered, "As to how much you'll get paid, how about your weight in gold?"

"And what job would have that kind of money?" Randy scoffed

"Well, it's funny that you say that…" Wendy said, "You remember Hamunaptra?"

* * *

It was now coming to about early to midafternoon. The sun had passed its apex and was now drifting far from the center of the sky. The boat was still loading passengers, but was soon to be preparing it's final preparations before it casts off. Meanwhile, Mason and Mabel were still standing on the dock, waiting for their guide to show up.

"She's not coming. I stuck my neck out for hers and now she backs out on our deal. After everything I went through to get her out of prison," Mason said, in the beginning stages of a panic attack.

"Don't worry, Dipper. I'm sure she'll show up soon," Mabel tried consoling her brother.

"I swear, if she isn't here in the next few minutes, there's going to be trouble," He replied, starting to get mad.

"Well if there's one thing you should know about me," Came a familiar female voice, "It's that trouble is my middle name."

The twins turned around to see the owner of the voice was none other than Wendy, accompanied by a large group of seven other men and women.

Upon seeing Wendy, Mason's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. No longer was the woman covered head to toe in dirt and filth and stunk of who-knows-what. Now she was clean and dressed in a flight jacket, tan jeans, and brown boots while her long ginger hair hung down to her mid-back. The very sight of the woman almost took Mason's breath away. Wendy walked up to Mason and put a hand under his jaw and closed his mouth with a smile on her face.

"Don't want my employer catching flies," She said, walking passed the twins with the Wild Geese in tow. Once he had come out of his stupor, Mason shook his head and went after his guide.

"Now hold on here! Wait just a minute!" He exclaimed in a somewhat annoyed tone, "Who are all these people!?"

"These guys are my crew. Figured we could use the extra protection," Wendy said plainly.

"This is an archaeological expedition. The worst danger we face is the desert heat," Mason said before Wendy turned to him and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'm just going to say this once, handsome: The last time me and my crew were at that cursed city, all we found was sand and blood. When I say we need the protection, we need the protection," She said, leering slightly at the librarian.

Mason was silent for a moment, processing Wendy's words and weighing his options. He decided that if it meant finding the greatest treasure of the ancient world, he could handle hiring a few extra hands. If not for protection, than they could make for good diggers.

"Alright, Miss Corduroy, I'll let your teammates tag along. Hopefully they'll come in handy," He said as he passed the ginger-haired woman and headed up the gangplank to the boat.

As they all piled onto the boat, no-one noticed the short, long-haired woman wearing a black cloak and a whip hanging from her waist hiding behind some cargo. She quickly jotted down a message before attaching it to the leg of a falcon before sending it flying off into the blue skies, its message known to none but the sender and its recipient.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter. I apologize deeply for the long wait but hopefully this more than makes up for it. Who was this mysterious, whip-wielding messenger? What antics will the Wild Geese and the rest of the group get into on the boat up the Nile? Find out next time in The Mummy!**


	6. Battle On The River Barge

**Hello Everyone!** **I bring to you the sixth chapter of The Mummy!** **I tried desperately to get this out on Halloween, as this IS a horror story, but due to some complications, I couldn't. Hopefully though, you all still enjoy. With all that said, hope you all like this chapter.**

* * *

Three Hours. It had been three hours since the boat had left port and began its journey down the river Nile. While the boat sailed calmly down the world's longest river, everyone occupied their time with their own activities. Penn and Sashi had recently made up after their little argument and were currently having make-up sex in their cabin, most of the Wild Geese were either playing cards or having a smoke on the leisure deck along with some of the other passengers of the boat. Soos, Randy, Mabel, and Melissa were busy playing a game of cards with a trio of men.

There was Kevin, a brown-haired, handsome-looking fellow, Oskar, a brown-haired young man with hair that covered his eyes, and Bradley, a black-haired man who was currently cleaning a pair of round glasses with a grey cleaning rag.

"Come on, Bradley, quit messin' about with your glasses and play," Ksaid to his friend.

"Without my glasses, I couldn't even see the cards in front of me let alone play them," Bradley replied before putting his glasses back on and picking up his cards once again. Not a minute later, Soos started laughing as he looked at his cards.

"I got it! I got it!" He said, laying his cards on the table, "Rummy!"

The other players were silent for a moment as Melissa face-palmed at the man servant's action.

"Soos, for the hundredth time: We're playing poker," Melissa said through her palmed face.

"Really?" He asked.

"So I gotta ask," Mabel spoke up, wanting to change the subject, "What are you fine men doing on this boat?"

"Well if you must know," Came a new voice, one with an English accent. Turning around, they were met with a tall and muscular man with pale skin. He had spiky black hair with several gray streaks, along with a goatee, and he had brown eyes. This was Professor Rippen of Cambridge University's Archaeology Department.

"We are in fact on a search for the lost city of Hamunaptra."

"Well, what a coincidence. We're actual-" Mabel started before having her mouth covered by Wendy, who had been passing by at that very moment.

"Ha ha, don't be a blabbermouth, you blabbermouth," Wendy said nervously before turning toward Rippen, "So you say you're searching for the lost city. How can that be? You'd need a guide or something."

"As a matter of fact, redhead, we do have one," Kevin said with a shit-eating smirk.

"And who might that be?" Wendy asked, interested to know who could possibly know the way to Hamunaptra.

"That would be for us to know and for you to find out, Red," Kevin said, his smirk still present.

"And if you folks are headed for Hamunaptra, how about a little wager?" Oskar asked.

"I'm listening," Melissa said with interest.

"$500 cash to the first man (or woman) to make it to the lost city," Kevin wagered with a smirk.

Thinking over the offer for a moment, Wendy was about to refuse when Mabel piped up and said, "You're on!" without a second thought.

Sighing at her employer's sister's stupidity at accepting such a bet, Wendy merely turned around and walked away as she heard Soos call "Gin" and the sound of Melissa slapping her face again in anguish.

* * *

Mason was busy occupying his time by reading one of his favorite Jules Verne novels, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, in one of the deck tables on the side of the boat.

He was getting to a really good part of the story when he heard someone clear their throat beside him. Taking his nose out of the novel, he looked up to see Wendy standing tall over him, carrying a rollout bag under her right arm.

"Mind if I sit down?" She asked with a soft smile, gesturing to the chair opposite the young librarian.

"Oh, uh, no, go ahead," Mason said a bit awkwardly, motioning for her to sit down. Smiling at the young man, Wendy took a seat in the chair and set down the bag before unraveling it, revealing a huge arsenal of guns from a pump-action shotgun to a wide array of pistols. Mason's eyes went a bit wide at seeing so many weapons.

"Um... I'm sorry, but did I miss something?" Mason asked.

"Last time I was at Hamunaptra, me and the Wild Geese faught an entire army of desert raiders together. Just as I was about to be gunned down by those bastards, they fled from me for no apparent reason," She said, loading the shotgun with ammunition.

"Why do you think that is?" Mason asked, genuinely curious about her story.

"Me? I think there's something evil under that city. Not sure what exactly, but it's a powerful force. An evil force, but powerful," She said, punctuating her sentence by cocking the gun before going on to loading a revolver. As she loaded the sidearm, Mason decided to address the elephant between them.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked.

"Sure, shoot," She replied.

"If you don't mind my asking, but back at the prison... Why did you kiss me?" He asked.

At this, she merely smirked and gave a small chuckle.

"Well I was about to get hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time," She said unapologetically.

Mason sat perplexed at the honesty of the red-headed gunslinger in front of him.

"In a way that's understandable. If I was also going to be hanged I'd also want the kiss of a beautiful woman," said Mason before realizing what he had just said and getting a deep red blush about it.

Wendy chuckled at the librarian's honesty and embarrassment.

"So now its my turn to ask you another question before all your blood goes to your head," said Wendy, putting her gun down and picking up a rifle.

"Sure, um, ask away," replied Mason.

"Why are you so invested in finding Hamunaptra? I'm sure that there are many other cursed cities out there, I even heard of a temple in India." said Wendy with curiosity as she cleaned the barrel of the rifle.

"Yeah, but I guess you can say it's something personal. The stories of this city and everything that is inside it were the first thing that got me into the field of archeology. I want to see if the city is real and prove myself," said Mason rubbing the back of his neck in slight sheepishness.

"Interesting. Guess you are the adorable dork-type. Also on a side note, we aren't the only ones heading there." added Wendy, looking at Mason.

"What?" asked Mason, looking around in slight paranoia.

"The big pale guy with the thick British snobbish accent and his goons are also going there," said Wendy pointing toward the end of the deck where Rippen and his crew were with her eyes.

"But that's impossible, I thought one would need to have a map or a guide to get there," said Mason.

"That's true, somewhere in this boat is their guide, I'll go look for him. You stick close to my friends and keep your sister's mouth shut." instructed Wendy as she wrapped up her bag of weapons.

Both of them got up one after the other and went on to do their own things. As Wendy was walking by the side of the ship, she noticed a shadow skulking near by. She grabbed one of her pistols as she walked closer to the hiding spot of the shadow.

She pretended to go passed the shadowy place but then shot her arm into the hiding spot and pulled out someone she never wanted to see again. She pointed her gun at the man she pulled out and was oh so tempted to pull the trigger. In front of her stood Robbie, the same yellow-bellied coward that left her and the rest of their comrades to die. He was now wearing a red fez hat, a long sleeved white shirt, black pants and a black vest.

"Oh! Wendy! What a surprise! I was so worried I'd never see you again!" said Robbie, trying to get out of being shot.

"The feeling is mutual. Only that in my version, me and the guys kick your ass and leave you for dead in a ditch in the desert," threatened Wendy, "So you're the one leading those other assholes, huh? Let me guess what the scam is this time: You're gonna lead them out into the middle of the desert and then leave them to rot!" She almost shouted.

"Unfortunately no, not this time. But come on, Wendy, you didn't believe in Hamunaptra from the beginning, why are you and the other Geese heading back there anyway?" asked Robbie.

Wendy was silent for a moment before looking over to Mason, who had just won a game of cards with the others, before he spotted her and smiled back at her.

"See that guy over there? The one with the glasses?" She asked and Robbie turned to see the young man playing cards as well, "He saved my life," She finished.

Robbie chuckled a bit at this, "Even for a girl, you've always had more balls than brains," He said as Wendy turned and started chuckling with him before leading him over to the railing.

"Yeah... Goodbye, Robbie," She said before grabbing him with both hands and throwing him over the railing into the river below.

"If I see you anywhere close, I'll pull this trigger until it goes click!" threatened Wendy before walking away from the thrashing Robbie, who was desperately trying to do the doggy-paddle back to the boat's side ladder.

Wendy walked back to her friends and hoped that her employer's sister hadn't done anything stupid in the last five minutes.

Unbeknownst to everyone a dark robed covered figure moved around of the ship undetected by the rest of the passengers and the rest of the crew. The figured walked silently through the corridors of the ship looking for the object she'd been tasked to find. As the figure walked silently she couldn't help but overhear some strange sounds coming from one of the rooms right next to her. She pressed her ear to the door only to hear something that made her face burn red.

She quickly unmasked herself revealing her young round face and light purple hair that covered one of her eyes. She took a couple of breaths and covered herself once more and continued to uphold her task.

The figure found her way to the room she was looking for, and quietly entered the cabin. She quickly began looking through the room, moving around clothes and books in search of her objective. She then found the luggage of the cabin's inhabitant and began forcing it open, when suddenly the movement of the door knob caught her attention. She quickly hid in the closet and closed the door.

The door opened to reveal Mason dragging himself into the cabin with a tiered expression in his face.

"I can't believe Mabel would just blabber about our destination and make a bet without consulting me. Wait, what am I saying? She should know better than to do that." said Mason closing the door

Mason walked towards his suitcase and opened it up to reveal the map towards the City of the Dead. All of this without realizing that he was not alone in his cabin.

Mason began to look over the map with very much care, trying to ensure that he wasn't missing any important information. As this was occurring the figure slipped out of the closet as silently as she could. She then began to walk towards Mason with a drawn dagger.

As the cloaked woman walked ever so closely to the unaware Mason, the door of the cabin opened to show Wendy stepping in.

"Hey babe, we got to talk-" said Wendy as she then spotted the cloaked figure close to Mason

Mason quickly saw the cloaked figure walking towards him and the figure then proceeded to try to stab him only for Wendy to shoot the dagger away from the cloaked figure. The cloaked figure turned around kicking Mason and pulling out her whip. The whip crackled as it struck the floor of the cabin. Wendy prepared her gun to fire once more only for the cloaked figure to strike at her with her whip. The figure continued to snap and twirl her whip keeping Wendy away. Wendy then grabbed hold of the whip and tried to pull at the figure but despite her short stature she was just as strong as Wendy.

Mason then came back to his senses and tried to tackle the figure but she let go of her whip allowing her to counter Mason's attack. By letting go of the whip Wendy stumbled backwards and the figure held Mason in a choke hold with a secondary knife being held up to his throat. Wendy stood right back up, this time with both of her guns aimed at the uninvited guest.

"Where is the key?" asked the figure.

"What key?" asked Mason though his hold.

"Don't think I won't kill you," replied the figure.

"Put him down or I put you down." threatened Wendy as then the window of the cabin busted open and another cloaked figure appeared, wielding guns.

Wendy fired at the new figure, forcing them to duck under the bullets. Mason took this chance to grab a candlestick and struck his assailant in the face. Wendy then fired again and this time she got the second cloaked figure as well as the oil candle. The candle fell to the sofa and lit it on fire.

Wendy grabbed Mason and dragged him out of the room as it began setting itself on fire.

"Wait, what about the map?" asked Mason in a panic.

"Don't worry I'm the map. All up here." said Wendy, pointing to her head as she dragged him out into the hallways.

"That doesn't give me much confidence." said Mason

Then at that moment Sashi and Penn got out of their room with their clothes all messed up with their weapons ready.

"What happened?" asked Penn

"We got some uninvited guests on board, go get the guys." said Wendy.

At that moment, a yell was heard as gunshots and smoke came from the other end of the ship. Rushing toward the noise, the group was met with the sight of more cloaked figures and a burning deck as the members of the Wild Geese and the rival group tried to fight off the raiders.

Three figures that stood out was a tall figure armed with large gauntlets, a slender figure armed with a spear, and a medium figure armed with a large sword with a hand guard. They seemed to be killing passengers left and right as the fire on the deck got more and more intense.

Randy, and the rest of the Wild Geese were opening fire on the tall figure with the large gauntlets, but the figure seemed to be able to block all the shots with the gauntlets that it was moving at an alarmingly fast pace. After seeing that their attack wasn't making any difference, Randy gave out new orders.

"Alright guys, bring out anything bigger to take down these guys," ordered Randy.

"Sir, yes sir," said Marco, pulling out a shotgun.

Meanwhile, Kevin and the rest of his group decided to take the more direct approach and tried to gang up on the slender figure with the spear. The figure swiftly moved the spear in a circular fashion blocking the bullets and then it rushed forward at the rival group. With an elegant move, the figure knocked all the raiders on their backs and was about to stab them but then Penn, Sashi, Mason and Wendy showed up and joined in the fight.

Sashi drew out her sword and started fighting off the sword wielding figure, while everyone else except Mason opened fire on the other two figures.

"Hey boys, how's your health plan?" Penn said just as the two figures from Mason's room showed up and opened fire on the ginger, who ducked behind an overturned table to dodge the bullets.

"APPARENTLY IT'S GREAT!" Penn shouted as he got up and opened fire on the band of raiders.

After a minute, the Wild Geese soon realized that they were outclassed by the people attacking the boat and the fire burning around them was not helping either. At that moment, Wendy and Randy made a mutual decision.

"Wild Geese! Abandon ship! Now!" Wendy yelled as she laid down covering fire as her team, Mabel, and Soos jumped off the side of the boat before she turned to Mason.

"Can you swim?" She asked.

"Of course I can swim!" He replied.

"Good to know!" She said before grabbing him and throwing him off the boat into the river below. Just as she was about to do the same, he heard the yelling of a familiar southern accent and turned to find Gideon.

"Corduroy! Corduroy! What are we gonna do!" He asked hysterically.

"Wait here! I'll go get help!" She said.

"Right!" Gideon answered before watching Wendy jump off the boat. After a second of waiting where he stood, he realized that he had been tricked and yelled as he hopped over the railing into the river as the other passengers of the barge jumped off as the fire spread across the boat.

As the passengers that made it off the boat swam and made it to the two shores, Wendy swam up and got to her feet and was soon joined by the other Wild Geese. As she wrung out her clothes to dry them as best she could, she turned back to the barge and saw the silhouettes of the five figures that attacked the boat on the deck, standing there as the fire raged across the boat. She was soon broken from her thoughts as she heard a familiar and annoying voice yell to her.

"Wendy! Hey, Wendy!" The voice yelled. Turning her head, she found Robbie standing on the opposite shorewith some workers and the rival group.

"Looks to me like I got all the horses!" He yelled smugly.

"Hey Robbie! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!" Wendy yelled back with a smirk.

At first, Robbie did not believe her and was going to call her out on it, but as he got his bearings back and looked around him, he soon realized that she was right and began to get angry and started kicking the shore and swore in pure rage.


	7. Race To The Lost City or Staking Claim

After recovering from the attack on the barge, the Wild Geese, Soos, Gideon, and the Pines Twins gathered what supplies that they could recover and started traveling once again, the now destroyed barge a burnt out husk at the bottom of the river.

It was an hour of traveling downriver before they arrived at a small port village where it was just starting to become daybreak and the shops in the bazaar were opening. After purchasing a small bit of breakfast, the group had a look around before they came upon a camel salesman. Both Penn and Wendy were busy trying to haggle with the stingy salesman, who refused to go below his asking price.

"I know it's a lot to ask for, but we need twelve camels and this is all the money we have," Penn said firmly to the salesman, who talked back to the redhead in Egyptian Arabic, "I highly doubt that they're worth more than that."

The salesman was about to reply when he felt a pointy piece of metal poke him in the back.

"I'd take the offer," A polite male voice said. Turning his eyes, the salesman was met with a wide smile of Milo, who was standing with a scalpel pressing against the man's back. Scared out of his wits, the salesman decided to do as the ex-soldiers asked before he wound up dead. After giving them the camels, Milo retracted his scalpel and let the Egyptian man go, who then promptly ran away after being given what money Penn had.

"Atta boy, Doctor Murphy. I almost forgot how crazy you could get when the situation calls for it," Wendy said with a chuckle as they took the camels and met the group at the edge of town.

"Alright boys, break time's over. We still have a lot of ground to cover," said Penn as the Wild Geese, the Pine Twins, Soos, and Gideon each grabbed their gear and then grabbed one of the camels.

Mason went up to the gun-slinging redhead. He felt responsible about their situation, as well as the reason that they were now pretty low on funds.

"I hope that these didn't cost too much." said Mason

"Nah, Milo helped us get them for a fair price. Although I was about to suggest adding your sister, that would've saved us some coins, but I knew you wouldn't have liked that," said Wendy as she got on top of her camel.

"As troublesome as she may be, Mabel is still my sister," replied Mason as he got on his camel.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we got a lot of time and space to cover. I'm sure as hell you don't want Robbie and his merry band of scavengers to get to Hamunaptra first. Let's go!" ordered Randy as they all went on their way.

Aided by their new method of transportation, the rag tag team managed to cross the desert with only a few minor discomforts. Time went on fast and simple, but as the sun went down the more experienced members of the group couldn't shake a feeling. The feeling of being watched by someone or something.

Gideon snored as they traveled only to be smacked awake by Soos' new fly swatter. At the head of the group, Wendy, Randy and Penn were guiding the way.

"You know we're being followed, right?" asked Penn.

"Yeah, we are. But the question is by who?" added Randy.

"I have a pretty good guess," said Wendy looking through the corner of her eye

The other two did the same thing and spotted four familiar silhouettes that were now being accompanied by a fifth member.

"That's not good," said Penn knowing fully well that Sashi and him were aching for a rematch.

"Why are those guys following us?" asked Randy grabbing his gun in anticipation of a fight.

"Beats me. But they seem to be very focused on Hamunaptra," said Wendy.

"Grave robbers?" asked Penn getting an itchy trigger finger as he narrowed his eyes at the far away figures.

"If they are, then where is their equipment?" asked Randy.

"They must be following us for another reason. Keep your eyes open," said Wendy as she placed a hand on one of her revolvers.

The Wild Geese and their fellow travelers continued on their way through the night only resting for short periods of time. They continued onward until the sun rose anew. They found themselves in front of a large valley plain of sand, but they were not alone. From the opposite side of the valley came none other than Robbie and the scrunches with many workers on horseback.

"I see you found the way across the river," said Wendy getting laughs from her friends.

"And I see you got some transportation as well," said Robbie with bitterness in his tone, Wendy giving him the finger at his comment.

As the group waited around, Kevin decided to speak and remind the competition of their wager.

"Remember our little bet, Corduroy: First one to the city gets five hundred cash bucks," He said with a smirk on his face.

"Hundred of those bucks are yours if you get us to that city first, Valentino," Bradley said to their guide, who merely nodded as they waited for the sun to fully rise over the horizon.

As they did, Wendy watched with keen eyes; watching over the valley as she sat on her camel next to Mason's.

"Get ready for it," She said to the young librarian.

"For what?" He asked in confusion.

"We're about to be shown the way," She replied.

At those words, the sun began to rise up over the valley. To the astonishment and amazement of the two parties, from seemingly out of nowhere, an entire ancient city seemed to appear.

"Well I'll be damned," Kevin said in wonder.

"Will you look at that?" Bradley added.

"Can you believe it?" Oskar replied.

"Hamunaptra," Randy said.

"Here we go again," Sashi added as the city came to fully materialize before them. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning and as loud as thunder, the two parties yelled at their mounts to run like the wind toward the city.

The race was on with Wendy taking the lead, being followed by Mason and the rest of their party. But from behind was coming none other than Robbie, who was whipping his horse wildly, followed by the rest of his group. The Wild Geese easily kept Kevin and his goons at bay; far behind from the lead. Even though they were not happy with the wager they still wanted the satisfaction of winning.

Against all possibility Robbie seemed to have been able to catch up to Wendy given his slightly faster horse. As he slowly made it to first place, Robbie began to whip Wendy, but she managed to catch it mid-swing. As tempted as she was to shoot Robbie, Wendy settled by punching him off his horse. Robbie rolled down on the ground and by some miracle he wasn't trampled to death.

Wendy was close to reaching the city of the dead when suddenly, out of left field, Mason over took her. Mason then reached Hamunaptra ensuring victory for the Wild Geese and the rest of his group. The group cheered for their victory, while Kevin and his group cursed in anger at their defeat.

"You suck, Robbie! You suck and you know it!" Kevin yelled at the guide, kicking at the sand in anger and frustration.

"Yes, I must agree with him here. This will come out of your payment, Mr. Valentino," said Rippen as he arrived from the back of the group. Robbie merely groaned at that statement.

* * *

After getting their gear down from the camels both groups began digging and looking over the supposed haunted city. Most of the Wild Geese, save for Wendy, were keeping watch just in case they were met with the mysterious figures. At the moment, Wendy was helping the Pines Twins and Soos by setting up some special mirrors. Gideon was just snooping around, hoping to find something valuable to put in his satchel, but all he got were a few hits from the rope Wendy was working with. This earned a few laughs from the group.

"So, what are these mirrors supposed to do?" asked Wendy as she walked up to Mason.

"Watch and learn," said Mason

As they were busy cleaning the ancient mirrors, Mason explained to the group that the half-buried statue that they were digging in front of was the statue of Anubis and at the base of it's buried legs was where they would find their objective: The Book of Amon-Ra, AKA The Book of Life.

Just as Mason got through explaining, Star and Marco punctured a hole in the ground that caused a void collapse, opening a hole big enough to climb down. After securing a rope to a pillar, half the Wild Geese, The Pines Twins, and Gideon went down the hole while the rest took watch.

As the group went down into the hole, they entered some kind of chamber that was devoid of anything but sand and debris. Looking around, they found the room very dark with no light sources save for the hole they just made. However, turning around, Mason found just what he was looking for: Another mirror like the one they had polished outside. Going up to the mirror, Mason started adjusting it.

"And then there was... Light," He quoted as the mirror reflected light from outside that then bounced off a different mirror on the opposite wall and so on until the entire room was lit up.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," Marco commented as the group lit some torches just to be safe and made their way deeper into the buried city.

The group continued to look around but Wendy couldn't help but feel something was wrong. The group were walking down the path hoping to find the promised riches that the city hid. They soon found themselves in a strange room filled with cobwebs and strange worn out pedestals.

"What did they do in this place?" asked Wendy

"This is where they prepared the dead for the afterlife," explained Mason

"What?" asked Star

"This is where they prepared the mummies," said Mabel with a slight know-it-all tone.

The group kept going through the spider web-filled corridors when suddenly a strange crawling noise startled them. The Wild Geese grabbed their guns and prepared for the worst as the rest of the group kept the torches ready.

"What was that?" asked Marco

"It kinda sounded like bugs," said Wendy

"I despise bugs," said Gideon as he wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.

The group turned a corner and saw that they were in a room where a large pair of black stone legs stood. They walked slowly up to the legs so that Mason could examine them. The hieroglyphs adorned the base of the statue and Mason was loving it.

"There should be something very interesting here," said Mason.

Suddenly the group heard a strange noise that made a chill run down their spines. The Wild Geese all grabbed their guns and prepared for the worst. Feeling someone approaching them, the group pressed against the base of the statue. Wendy led the way as they moved closer to the corner. After taking in a few deep breaths the group jumped out, ready to shoot anything that moved on the other side.

On the other side, the group found themselves aiming at Robbie and his group. Everyone let out a small yelp, but they still held up their guns.

"You scared the living hell put of us, Corduroy," said Kevin.

"Likewise," replied Wendy.

"Is that my toolkit?" asked Bradley looking at Mason's tools.

"No it isn't," said Mason, pulling the toolkit back.

"Yes, it is," said Bradley as he took one more step.

Wendy aimed her guns at Bradley, prompting Robbie's group to pull out their own guns and aim them at the Wild Geese. The Wild Geese, for their part, didn't move an inch as they were ready to open fire should they need to.

"Oh no, you're right. Mine's in the trunk," said Bradley walking away from the gun in his face.

Once everyone was back on opposite sides, they all lowered their weapons as a sign of good faith. Although one could tell that the Wild Geese were more than aware that Robbie was willing to shoot them in the back.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a scorching day and we have a lot of work we need to do, so would you mind leaving us be." said Mason, wanting to look more into the statue.

"Shove off, boy! This is our dig site," said Rippen with some sense of superiority.

"We got here first," said Mason, narrowing his eyes in anger at being called "boy".

The Wild Geese and Robbie's scavengers pulled their guns out in a split second. Neither side was willing to give the other the ground. Feeling as though this was just like an old Western novel, the two groups were less than an inch away from shooting each other on the spot.

"This is our statue, fellas," said Kevin with a little smug smirk, running his hand through his styled hair as he pointed his gun at Marco.

"I don't see your name on it, pretty boy. So back off before you lose those looks," said Randy, aiming his pistol directly between Kevin's eyes.

As the arguments went on, Mason and Mabel noticed some pebbles next to them and a small fissure. Mason quietly kicked one of the pebbles into the crack in the sandy floor and heard a small *clack*, as if the rock hit something solid beneath them. He quickly deduced that there was a room right underneath them. Which meant that there was a way to dig from underneath the statue of Anubis and get The Book of Amun-Ra.

"Always with the threats, Randy, you haven't changed. But since there's only seven of you and eighteen of us, the odds are pretty stacked," said Robbie, feeling like he was going to win.

However, the only thing that Robbie got was Wendy putting one of her revolvers in his face.

"You're right, pretty bad odds. For you," Wendy said, leering at the man

"Or did you forget all the times we kicked ass back in the Legion?" asked Star.

At that moment, Mason walked up to the middle ground of the stand-off and decided to play peace keeper.

"Come on guys, no need to behave like little kids," He said, acting as mature as his great uncle, "If we're going to play together we have to learn to share," said Mason as he slowly lowered the guns of the scavengers and then turned to Wendy. "There are other places to dig."

Wendy seemed to understand that Mason had a plan and lowered her guns. The Wild Geese, the Pine Twins, and Gideon left the area, allowing the scavengers to proceed with their dig.

* * *

Dipper led the group down through some of the tunnels underneath the mummification room until they found the area that they were looking for. It was a large empty room with a couple of jackal and cat statues scattered around it.

"Alright, this should be the place," said Mason.

"Place for what?" asked Marco

"To get the book before them," answered Mason with a smirk, earning a smile from The Wild Geese.

After a short talk and rearrangement of the statues, Mason, Wendy, Randy, and Marco were beating and breaking parts of the statue's base above them. The work was somewhat slow-going due to the odd angle in which they had to strike the stone ceiling. While all this was happening, Mabel and Star kept watch. Or they supposedly were doing so as neither of them noticed Gideon slipping away in the search of some treasure.

"Are you sure about this? We could always go back up with the rest of the Wild Geese and take care of our 'friends'," Suggested Randy as he swung the hammer at the sandstone ceiling.

"This is an archeological expedition, not the wild west. Besides we aren't robbing them, we're just making a faster way to The Book of Life," said Mason.

"As a consolation prize we could see Robbie's face when he and his friends see that we took the book from under them," said Wendy as she grabbed a pole and moved some of the stones.

"And then we hang him," said Marco as he grabbed a pike and began banging away to try and dislodge more of the rock.

As they were going over the plan, Mabel began to sniff around. And she noticed that the air around them was not as musky with the smell of pomade and calogne as before. In fact, besides the dust, it was very clear.

"Where did our 'friend', the warden, go?" asked Mabel.

* * *

In another part of the lost city, not too far from the group, Gideon was crawling through the hallways with an arrow sticking out of his pompadour. He had a very close encounter with one of the city's traps, so he decided to crawl as to avoid being murdered by another trap.

"There must be some treasure hidden in this forsaken city. I refuse to believe I've come this far for nothing. And that sweet Mabel keeping on ignoring my advances is just salt on the wound," said Gideon to himself as he turned another corridor.

Just then, Gideon's eyes caught something. Before him was the carving of an ancient Egyptian with what appeared to be precious metal orbs all over his body. Believing that he had found what he was seeking, Gideon sprung to his feet and rushed to the carving.

"What have we here?" asked Gideon as he passed one finger over the orb. "Blue gold? Yes please!"

Gideon took out a knife and slowly began to dislodge the small orb. He laughed to himself as he stuffed it in his bag. Gideon then thought of one final act of victory as he looked upon the carving. He lifted his arms and mimicked the pose of the carving and screamed as if it were a mocking imitation.

* * *

 **Deep apologies for how long this chapter took. Like I've stated on my profile page, I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to updates for my own stories. However, I wasn't twiddling my fingers in that time. I was actually helping other authors with collaboration stories, such as Batmarcus' story "Class Is In Session" (Which you can find in my Favorites). Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all later!**


	8. Discoveries Within The Cursed City

**Welcome one and all to the latest chapter of The Mummy! I apologize greatly for the long delay of this chapter. I've been really busy with other projects. That being said, please enjoy the story!**

* * *

Back with Dr. Rippen, Robbie, and the rest of the scavengers, they had cleared out most of the dirt off of the statue of Anubis and had gotten a clear shot at the base. The desire for untold riches made short work of Kevin as he tried to pry the hidden chamber open.

"Alright boys, let's get us some treasure," said Kevin about to plunge a crowbar into the base.

"Wait!" called Rippen stopping the mercenary. "Rose Quartz was many things and foolish was not one of them. We must be cautious."

Kevin looked at all the workers that Rippen had hired. They were all huddled up together and whispered to one another almost as they expected something bad to happen.

"You know what Kev," said Oscar "Maybe we should let someone else open this thing. No need for us to take all the glory."

"Yeah, let the diggers do it," replied Kevin

Rippen ordered the diggers to get some crowbars and open the chamber. Only three diggers amongst the large group were brave enough to move up and try to open the chamber. The three diggers struggled to get their tools in the right position and soon enough found themselves pushing and pulling to open it. Rippen ordered them in Egyptian to open the chamber faster and with more strength. With every word the air got colder and tensions rose as Rippen was downright screaming at the workers to hurry up. With that final scream, the diggers triggered the hidden trap. A highly pressurised liquid was blasted from the outline of the chamber stone, covering the three diggers, burning their skin and causing them to scream in great pain and for everyone else to take a step back in fear of being next.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mason, Wendy and the members of the Wild Geese were taking a break. All the while Mabel and Star were messing around as if they were playing golf.

"So how exactly does mummification work?" asked Randy in order to make conversation. "I've heard about it but I don't think much about it."

"Well they basically rip out your vital organs and put them in these ceremonial canopic jars. It was all in order to preserve them for you in the afterlife," explained Mason

"That doesn't sound very sanitary," said Wendy

"Oh, would you guys like to know how they got your brain out?" asked Mason with a bit of a smirk.

"Bro-bro, I don't think that we need to know stuff like that," said Mabel.

"I'm a little curious," replied Star, swinging her makeshift golf club. "How did they get it out? Break your skull open or something?"

"Oh no, that's a tad barbaric," said Mason, smirking before continuing, "They took a metal rod like this one, heat it up, stick it inside your nose, scrabble things around and then pull it all out through the nostrils."

The members of the Wild Geese had seen a whole lot of crazy things in their adventures. Some would say that they had seen it all, but that mental picture that Mason had described gave them chills down their spines.

"I prefer being shot," said Randy, his face going a bit pale.

"Don't worry guys, you'd be long dead when they do this," said Mason

"Yeah, Marco, for the record: if I don't make it, don't put me down for mummification," said Star

"Likewise," said Marco

"Me three," said Mabel before swinging her pickaxe turned golf club.

However, the moment the young brunette swung and struck the pebble, the roof collapsed right between the separated groups with a loud _***CRASH***_ , scaring the living daylights out of the entire company, with Mabel completely frozen in fear and thanking every known deity in every pantheon that whatever just hit the ground wasn't five feet to the right.

Slowly turning her head as the rest of the party got over the shock they had suffered, they found what looked to be a massive stone box or chest now lying dead center in the middle of the chamber. Mason slowly got up from the sand-covered floor and began to approach the sandstone object.

Placing his palm atop the chest, he began to examine the structure of it before coming to a conclusion.

"Guys… I think this might be a sarcophagus…" He said slowly before looking up at where it had fallen from, "Buried at the base of Anubis."

Everyone soon approached the sarcophagus with caution, almost afraid that it might try to crush them once more. Mason then took out a brush from his pants pocket and began to sweep away the sand that soon uncovered a series of hieroglyphics on the lid.

"What's it say, Dipper?" Mabel asked out of curiosity since her knowledge of Ancient Egyptian language was below average compared to her twin's immense knowledge on the subject.

Mason began reading the ancient writing, moving any sand to clear the symbols. His eyes narrowed as he translated the different symbols, but even with the translation what laid before him made no sense. Normally, ancient sarcophaguses would have the name of the person so that they wouldn't be powerless in the Ma'at or the afterlife.

"It says 'she who shall not be named'," said Mason "To be buried underneath the statue of Anubis and to have their name erased. This person must've done something very, very bad."

* * *

Back on his own, Warden Gideon was still ripping into the jewels that were locked into the carving.

"Woo hoo, this has certainly been a very well earned investment," said Gideon laughing as he placed another jewel into his bag, only for it to fall. "With this amount of money I'll be rich and that sweet brown haired beauty will be mine."

However, despite Gideon's belief that his ill gotten riches would set him for life, the fates had another idea in mind. The 'jewel' that had fallen to the sand began to crack. Tiny stick like legs began to sprout from the cracks until a pair of pincers broke the jewel from the inside revealing what was inside. A strange black beetle looked around in curiosity, looking for the source of his awakening. It then spotted Gideon chuckling to himself.

The insect crawled through the sand until it reached Gideon's shoe and with a swift and hungry move, it cut into the shoe and began to eat its way into the foot.

"Yes, yes, ye-" began saying Gideon until he began feeling something biting into him.

A great pain coursed through the warden's foot causing him to scream dropping his knife. Gideon looked at his leg as the painful sensation crawled higher and higher towards the rest of his body. Every movement felt like knives and sharp needles pierced Gideon's body and made him scream in pain. He grabbed hold of his shirt and ripped it open as he saw a small bulge traveling higher inside his body.

Gideon began running and screaming in pain as the nasty insect crawled into his skull.

* * *

Mason and the rest of the group were removing as much dust as they could and came across a strange hole that had the symbol of a flying scarab on it.

"Whoever this person was must've been quite evil to suffer this fate," said Mason

"This thing looks like a lock of some sort," said Wendy

"Too bad we don't have any keys with us," said Randy

Upon hearing those words, Mason's mind went back to the boat and how that mysterious woman that tried to kill him over some key. He looked at the outline of the keyhole and remembered the strange box that they found the map in.

"Of course! That's what she was after!" said Mason, pulling out the key.

"Hey, that's mine," Mabel complained before looking over her clothes for any sign of holes. "How did you get it?"

Mason triggered the key, opening it and just as he was about to insert it into the ancient stone coffin, a loud scream echoed through the tomb. The Wild Geese grabbed their weapons and were ready to face whatever was making that noise. The group of mercenaries ran towards the source of the screaming followed by Mason and Mabel.

The warriors arrived to see Gideon ripping off his own hair and holding his head while screaming like a mad man.

"What's wrong?" asked Wendy

"Were you attacked or something?" asked Randy

Gideon didn't answer the question. Instead he ran past them at high speeds dropping his bag towards one of the walls of the ancient tombs. Without any care or fear of death, the Warden crashed head first into the wall, cracking his skull and dying from shock and pain.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Mabel.

"I think we should call it a day," said Randy with everyone else agreeing with him.

Before they left, Mabel decided to grab the bag hoping to at least figure out what Gideon was doing before going insane. As they walked, the crew couldn't help but feel as something truly evil was within the halls of the ancient tomb.

* * *

Night had fallen in the city of the pharaohs and the two groups had set up their respective camp sites. The Wild Geese gathered around the fire along with Wendy, Mason, Mabel, and Soos. Everyone held on to their weapons, just in case someone had a dumb idea.

"What do you think happened to him?" asked Mason

"Not sure, maybe there is a curse in this place," said Star

"Our friends over there had a little misfortune of their own," said Wendy holding her shotgun. "Compressed sulfuric acid, like an old school booby trap. Melted three of their workers."

"Could we please change the subject?" asked Mason poking at the fire. "I'm amazed that a group such as yourselves would believe some superstitious nonsense."

"You believe in this city, but not in ghosts?" asked Penn with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I believe that if I can see it it's real," said Dipper

"I wouldn't be so quick to disregard the supernatural. The guys and I could tell you some stories honey," said Wendy throwing a glance at Dipper.

"Ooh, do tell. How did your rough and tough gang get together?" asked Mabel

The Wild Geese looked at one another, wordlessly questioning whether they should tell their employer their origins.

With a sigh, Penn decided that it wouldn't hurt.

"Well, I guess I'll start," said Penn twirling his revolver. "My parents were big time lovers of adventure, spent most of their youth exploring the world. They used to read me stories of the Wild West and how the hero would always ride into the sunset, looking for adventure. I guess you could say that being in the Foreign Legion was like my Wild West."

"That's beautiful dude," said Soos sniffing in tears.

"Alright I'll go next, but none of you get sappy or else," threatened Sashi before starting her story. "I grew up as the eldest child in a traditional Japanese family that had just moved to the states. My parents would often tell me to keep my cool, not get in trouble, had to maintain the family's reputation. You know the type. The whole 'don't speak unless you're spoken to' thing. One day, I couldn't take it anymore and started picking fights and training into the deadly arts of sword fighting. When I fight, I feel the true essence of freedom."

"Amen sister," said Star with an eager smile. "I was a lot like Sashi, an incredibly overbearing mother trying to make me into this perfect little princess. I hated every minute of it. My family ran this flower shop called "Butterfly Castle Flowers", it was the only girly thing I ever liked. Except for the times these daddy's girls came around asking for a lot of flowers for their catillions, if they matched their dresses or their eyes. Who cares?! Anyway, one night I was closing shop after having to make a dozen special order bouquets when a strange yet alluring smell caught my attention. I followed it to the shop next door. I couldn't see much in the dark so I lit a small match, and then _**BOOM**_ **!** No more Chinese Laundry. The explosion sent me flying clear through the front window and showed me all these colors. It was like a sign from God. From that day on I knew my destiny was in blowing stuff up."

"Since Star shared her story I guess I'll go next," said Marco before taking a swig of his canteen. "I started working in my dad's garage fixing cars since I was ten. I could put an engine together in 10 minutes when I was twelve. Life was good, even had a baby sister. I was then recruited into the Legion because one of my dad's constant customers was looking for competent mechanics that could speak more than one language. Figuring out how each machine worked and was put together fascinated me and I've been enthralled by this sense of uncertainty for tomorrow. Guess I want to like without a clear idea of what could happen."

"Ooh, can I go next?" asked Milo raising his hand. "Ok, well, hi I'm Milo Murphy and I'm pretty much the medic of the team. I don't know if you can tell but I've been accident prone my whole life. So I figured that a career in knowing how to put myself and others together was a pretty good one. After finishing Medical School I noticed many of the people coming back from the Legion weren't in the best of shapes. So I let my luck guide me and I ended up with these guys. And I've been keeping them in as few pieces as possible."

"And you've been doing a pretty good job, doc," said Penn, showing off some of his scars, including a nasty gash across his abdomen that Sashi, for lack of a better term, purred at the sight of.

"Well, since everyone's telling their fun little life stories," Melissa said, twirling a knife. "I've always had a knack for going beyond everyone's expectations, and growing up in a quiet little town, that wasn't hard. One day, a traveling gunsmith came to town and began showing off his collection of rifles. I was allowed to fire one, and I was the only one around my age that managed to hit a bullseye. Even though my parents weren't happy, they taught me how to shoot. A few years later and some boys started asking for my hand. I said no to all of them, but that didn't stop them from trying again and again. So I enlisted hoping to get away from any suitors. Met Milo and we hit it off."

"Well, there's nothing to say about me, so pass," said Randy before Wendy slugged him on the shoulder.

"Come on Randy, tell them the truth," said Wendy.

"The Cunningham men have always been fighters. My old man was a boxer that could take on three guys with his eyes blindfolded, but he never wanted that life for me," said Randy looking at the fire. "He wanted me to be something better, a teacher or a cop."

"You would've been an awesome teacher," said Penn interrupting.

"Yeah, I know. So one night pondering my future with my friend Howard we both got drunk, one thing led to another and we ended up enlisting in the Foreign Legion," said Randy laughing. "His sister was furious with the two of us when she found out, but I promised her that we'd be careful. One night when we all got acquainted, and a few drinks later Howard and I decided to get tattoos. I got my family's lucky number 69, but Howard feeling religious said that his soul was still of God but only the Devil would save his skin. So, he got himself a laughing devil right in the ass. The next day we were on patrol near a fortress when we were ambushed, one of the cannon balls got Howard. A blinding flash and he was gone. And let me tell you something Mr. Pines, you see life through different eyes when you have to pick up what's left of your best friend with a shovel. But there is one thing that I saw that day that made my blood run cold. We came across a piece we recognized. It wasn't a hand or a tooth, it was the patch of skin with the laughing devil. But finding it wasn't the scary part. The piece looked in perfect condition, no burnt marks or cuts, it was like it was cut off. I stared at it for a good minute, knowing that he was laughing at my pale face. In the end, Howard was right, the Devil did save his skin. Just not all of it."

At the end of Randy's story, a strong gust of wind blew the fire in one direction giving the sombre atmosphere a much spookier tone.

"Well let's see what Gideon believed in," said Mabel pulling out the warden's bag.

She started rummaging through it until she felt something knick her finger causing her to flinch and yelp.

"What's wrong?" asked Mason

Mabel looked inside the bag and pulled out what had cut her. It was a bottle of alcohol with a chipped neck.

"A broken bottle," She said, examining the label, "Wow, Lagavulin Scotch. 16 years old," She said before opening the bottle and taking a small swig from it, "He might've been a creep that didn't know I wasn't interested, but he had good taste."


End file.
